Lauren's Nutgraf Example

I read a Boston Globe story called Lynch: USPS can be saved, but not with union layoffs.

The lede explains that the U.S. Post Office is in dire straits, and the postmaster general believes that in order to survive, union layoffs are needed. Former union president Stephen Lynch counters that the union layoffs are "not an option."

Soon after a quotation from Lynch to bolster the lede, we get the nutgraf (I would argue both of these paragraphs are part of the nutgraf):

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"The service suffered a staggering $8.5 billion loss last year and $20 billion over the last five years, according to the Government Accountability Office. Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe told a congressional committee last week that the service is now on the brink of financial collapse, and will default unless lawmakers take action by month’s end.

Online bill-paying and competition from private parcel companies have battered the service’s finances. Without radical change, Donahoe said, the service is headed for catastrophe. He wants to close thousands of post offices and processing centers, reduce the work force by 120,000, restructure its health care plan, and drop Saturday delivery, all with an eye toward saving $20 billion by 2015."
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Here the author does a fine job in putting this problem in context. The U.S. Post Office certainly is struggling more than ever before--we get the weight of that when the author references the postmaster general's comment that it will default unless Congress takes action immediately.

I also like this nutgraf contains some numbers to back up the urgent nature of the problem; it sounds more serious to "8.5 billion dollar loss last year" than to use a more qualitative description.

The author then focuses back in to the issue at hand, including this pesky union layoff problem.

All in all, well done.